Nutritionally complete pet food and method of feeding and manufacturing same

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a nutritionally complete and preferably balanced, shelf stable pet food product, a method of feeding the pet food product to an animal and a process of manufacturing that pet food product. The method of feeding an animal includes the step of feeding a preferred pet food product to the animal, wherein the pet food product is a nutritionally complete meal and is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A pet food product comprising: N pieces wherein N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of an animal, and N equals 1 to less than 10 pieces.  
     
     
         2 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein N pieces provide the complete and balanced daily nutritional requirements of an animal.  
     
     
         3 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein each of the N pieces has an inner component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 2760 Max Force and an outer component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 300 Max Force.  
     
     
         4 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein each of the N pieces has a brittleness value in the range of 430 to 1160 mm, a toughness value in the range of 0.5 to 5.5 Work and a hardness value in the range of 70 to 520 Max Force.  
     
     
         5 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein each of the N pieces has about 1.4 to 8.4 Kcalories per gram, a caloric density of about 1.8 to 11.1 Kcal/cm 3  and a caloric content between 20 to 2500 calories per piece.  
     
     
         6 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein each piece is comprised of two components, an outer component and an inner component.  
     
     
         7 . The pet food product of  claim 6 , wherein the inner and outer component have a different quality selected from the group consisting of hardness, brittleness, toughness, density, caloric density, calories per gram and color.  
     
     
         8 . The pet food of  claim 6 , wherein the inner component comprises 10 to 90% of the product.  
     
     
         9 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein the product has a protein content in the range of 18 to 65 wt %, a carbohydrate content in the range of 30 to 70 wt %, a fat content in the range of 3 to 20 wt % and a fiber content in the range of 0 to 10 wt %.  
     
     
         10 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein the product has a water activity of less than 0.9.  
     
     
         11 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein the product is a single component.  
     
     
         12 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein the pet food product is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.  
     
     
         13 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein the product has a longitudinal shape and a cross sectional shape in the form of a modified triangle having a length greater than 0.75 cm and a cross sectional area in the range of 3.0 to 18.0 cm 2 .  
     
     
         14 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein the product has a weight in the range of 20 to 400 grams.  
     
     
         15 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein each piece is cohesive.  
     
     
         16 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein N is 1, 2 or 3.  
     
     
         17 . The pet food product of  claim 1 , wherein an N piece has a consumption time of five to sixty minutes.  
     
     
         18 . A pet food product comprising an inner component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 2760 Max Force, an outer component having a hardness value in the range of 50 to 300 Max Force and a caloric density of about 1.8 to 11.1 Kcal/m 3 , wherein the pet food product is a nutritionally complete meal.  
     
     
         19 . The pet food product of  claim 18 , wherein the product has a brittleness in the range of 430 to 1160 mm, a toughness in the range of 0.5 to 5.5 Work and a density in the range of 0.6 to 1.7 g/cm 3 .  
     
     
         20 . A method of feeding an animal comprising the step of feeding an animal N pieces of a pet food product wherein N equals 1 to 15 in which N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of the animal.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein N is dependent upon the weight of the animal.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the pet food product is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.  
     
     
         23 . A pet food product comprising a nutritional complete meal having a ‘well-being’ score of at least 3.2.  
     
     
         24 . The pet food product of  claim 23 , wherein the complete meal has an ‘occupation’ and/or ‘chewing satisfaction’ score of at least 3.3, a ‘convenience’ and/or ‘messiness’ score of at least 3.4 and a ‘texture’ score of at least 3.  
     
     
         25 . A method of feeding an animal comprising the step of feeding an animal a pet food product comprising a nutritionally complete meal having a ‘well-being’ score of at least 3.2, wherein the pet food product has a length greater than 0.75 cm and a cross sectional area in the range of 3.0 to 13.0 cm 2 .  
     
     
         26 . A pet food product manufactured by the method of: 
 a. blending and batching selected ingredients;    b. processing the ingredients through at least one extruder;    c. moving the extrudate through a die head;    wherein said product comprises N pieces wherein N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of an animal, and N equals 1 to 15 pieces.    
     
     
         27 . A method of feeding an animal comprising the step of feeding a preferred pet food product to the animal, wherein the pet food product is a nutritionally complete meal and is configured such that the animal can hold the product with its appendages while eating the product.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the pet food product is preferred by 60% of dogs over a standard dry kibble pet food.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the pet food product comprises a nutritionally complete meal having a ‘well-being’ score of at least 3.2.  
     
     
         30 . The method of claim of  27 , wherein the pet food product comprises N pieces wherein N pieces provide the complete daily nutritional requirements of an animal, and N equals 1 to 15 pieces.